New programs in place for revenues, brackets Posted: Friday, June 8, 2012 1:26 pm
BRENTWOOD — The Ohio Valley Conference concluded its annual conference Spring Meetings Friday in Nashville.
Items of business that highlighted the meeting included a basketball enhancement incentive plan, approval of access and seeding models for the OVC men’s and women’s basketball, softball and volleyball tournaments, the adoption of an OVC Fan Code of Conduct and a contract extension for the commissioner.
The OVC Board of Presidents approved an extension to commissioner Beth DeBauche’s contract.
A four-year contract that runs through June 30, 2016, was approved.
It was also announced that next year’s chairman of the board of presidents will be Dr. William Perry from Eastern Illinois.
The chairman of board of directors of athletics for 2012-13 will be EIU’s Barbara Burke.
The OVC Board of Presidents approved a basketball enhancement plan that was formulated by a sub-group that included athletic directors and coaches.
The league will distribute revenue earned (up to $500,000) through victories in the NCAA men’s championship back to schools for use to enhance the sport of men’s basketball.
OVC schools can earn the money based on (1) overall team RPI, (2) increase in number of Division I wins from the previous year (a 3-year rolling average), (3) Division I non-conference wins (3-year rolling average), (4) OVC Tournament or regular season championship in the past four years, (5) improvement in RPI (3-year rolling average) and (6) 40 percent of non-conference games being played at home or neutral sites.
The initial funds are based on this year’s distribution and will be made available to schools at the end of this fiscal year (June 30).
The enhancement plan was put in place by the OVC Board of Presidents to help continue grow men’s basketball because the league has experienced unprecedented postseason success in the sport over the last four years.
OVC men’s basketball teams have won a game in each of the last four NCAA tournaments.
With the addition of Belmont on July 1 and with SIUE gaining full Division I status and becoming eligible for postseason competition, the OVC will feature 12 schools in the sports of men’s and women’s basketball, softball and volleyball for the first time this coming year.
The league announced in February its intention to use a divisional scheduling model for the sports that featured 12 members.
The East Division will include Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech while the West Division will include Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, SIUE and UT Martin.
In men’s and women’s basketball, the top team in each division based on conference winning percentage automatically earns a berth into the OVC championship. The next six teams with the highest conference winning percentage will also earn a bid, regardless of division.
The No. 1 seed will go to the divisional winner with the top conference winning percentage, while the No. 2 seed will automatically go to the other divisional winner. The remaining six teams will be seeded 3-8 by conference winning percentage, regardless of division.
The bracketing format of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments remains the same, a merit-based format that began with the 2011 championship.
The top two seeds receive double-byes to the semifinals, while the No. 3 and 4 seeds receive a single bye to the quarterfinals.
The 5-8 seeds matchup in the first round of the tournament.
The 2013 OVC Tournament will be held March 6-9, 2013, at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.
Both the softball and volleyball championships will expand from six to eight teams beginning this year.
The top teams in each division will earn a berth in the tournament, with the next six teams with the highest conference winning percentage earning a spot in the field regardless of division.
Different from basketball, both softball and volleyball will seed its championships 1-thru-8 based on conference winning percentage, regardless of division.
During the past school year, the league organized an OVC Game Operations subcommittee that recommended the OVC Fan Code of Conduct that was adopted last week.
The code asks fans to act in a responsible and courteous manner when attending OVC contests.
Published in The WCP 6.7.12 , | 
